Multimedia terminal for product ordering

ABSTRACT

A novel multimedia system for enabling a customer to order a required product in a retail system. The multimedia system has a voice recognition mechanism for recognizing a voice input, and a display mechanism responsive to the recognized voice input for displaying images assisting the customer in ordering the product during a product ordering session. The voice recognition mechanism and the display mechanism may be elements of a product ordering terminal in a retail facility.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to my U.S. patent application No.09/745,420 filed on Dec. 26, 2000, entitled “RETAIL SYSTEM WITH PURCHASEORDERING” and incorporated herewith by reference, and to my U.S. patentapplication No. 10/354,025 filed on Jan. 30, 2003 entitled “GRAPHICALUSER INTERFACE FOR PRODUCT ORDERING IN RETAIL SYSTEM” and incorporatedherewith by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This application relates to retail systems, and more particularly, to amultimedia terminal for enabling a customer of a retail system to placean order for a product.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is well known that the most expensive place to hold merchandise is onthe shelf of a retail store because of all resources it consumes untilthat point, such as labor, transportation, and storage costs. Inaddition, consumer study conducted by Anderson Consulting (nowAccenture) and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) showed that of theproducts consumers want in a grocery store, 6% to 8% are out-of-stock.For promotional items, this number jumps to 25% out-of-stock products.The study concluded that the out-of-stock levels add up to about $100billion in lost sales for retailers.

Therefore, there is a need for retail mechanisms that would enableretailers to meet customers' demands without having to hold merchandiseon the shelves. For example, a retail system disclosed in my copendingU.S. patent application No. 09/745,420 filed on Dec. 26, 2000, entitled“RETAIL SYSTEM WITH PURCHASE ORDERING” and incorporated herewith byreference, employs a purchase ordering mechanism in a retail systemcontrolled by a control system and comprising at least one storagefacility for storing goods available for sale in the retail system, andmultiple points of sale. Each point of sale enables a customer to obtainan ordered purchase after a time period sufficient to deliver theordered purchase from the storage facility to the point of sale. Toorder the purchase, the customer may use a computer terminal remote withrespect to the purchase obtaining points, or a computer terminalinstalled at one of the purchase obtaining points. Alternatively, apurchase may be ordered via a telephone system.

A purchase ordering terminal, disclosed in my copending application No.10/354,025 filed on Jan. 30, 2003 entitled “GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FORPRODUCT ORDERING IN RETAIL SYSTEM” and incorporated herewith byreference, is a touch screen computer having a touch sensitive screen.The user interfaces with the computer by appropriately touching areas ofthe display screen with the finger to execute commands, enter data,respond to prompts, etc. In response to the user's inputs, the terminaldisplays multiple screens enabling the user to select a point of sale,delivery time, and collect required products in a “basket” or “shoppingcard”.

To facilitate a product ordering procedure, it would be desirable toprovide interactions between user's voice commands and images displayedon the screen during a product ordering session. Therefore, it would bedesirable to create a multimedia product ordering terminal utilizingvoice and image data for enabling the user to order required products.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present application provides a novel multimedia system for enablinga customer to order a required product in a retail system. Themultimedia system includes a voice recognition mechanism for recognizinga voice input, and a display mechanism responsive to the recognizedvoice input for displaying images assisting the customer in ordering theproduct during a product ordering session. For example, the voicerecognition mechanism and the display mechanism may be elements of aproduct ordering terminal in a retail facility.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the customer is enabledto control an image displayed by the display mechanism either bytouching a control element displayed on the screen or by a voice commandcorresponding to a function of the control element.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the displaymechanism displays various screens representing different phases of theproduct ordering session. In response to the recognized customer's voiceinput, the display mechanism may replace one display screen withanother.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, a unique set ofvoice commands recognizable by the voice recognition mechanismcorresponds to every screen displayed by the display mechanism.Graphical elements indicating voice commands available in a particularphase of the product ordering session may be displayed on the respectivescreen.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, in addition togeneral voice commands, voice commands recognizable by the voicerecognition mechanism during the product ordering session includepoint-of-sale keywords for defining points of sales for delivery anordered product, and product keywords for defining products availablefor ordering.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, a voice recordingmechanism may be provided in the product ordering terminal for recordingthe voice input to accumulate voice information for testing andadjusting the voice recognition mechanism.

In accordance with a method of the invention, the following steps arecarried out to order a product:

-   -   recognizing a voice input from a customer, and    -   in response to the recognized voice input, displaying images        assisting the customer in ordering the product during a product        ordering session.

Still other aspects, objects and advantages of the present inventionwill become readily apparent from the following detailed description,simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carryingout the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable ofother and different embodiments, and its several details are capable ofmodifications in various obvious respects, all without departing fromthe invention. Accordingly, the drawing and description are to beregarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the retail system in which themultimedia product ordering terminal of the present invention may beutilized.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a simplified arrangement of themultimedia product ordering terminal of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating operations of the voice recognitionunit of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary screen displayed by themonitor during a product ordering session.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, toone skilled in the art that the present invention may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-knownstructures and entities are shown in block diagram form in order toavoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary retail system 10, in which a purchaseordering system of the present invention may be implemented. The retailsystem 10 may comprise a plurality of retail facilities 12 for enablingcustomers to order and/or receive purchases, a plurality of storagefacilities 14, a central data base and control system 16, a managementfacility 18, and a telecommunications system 20, such as anInternet-based communications network. For example, the retail system 10of the present invention may sell such items as food products, consumergoods, video/audio products, etc. A delivery system may be provided toenable delivery of goods to the storage facilities 14, and from thestorage facilities 14 to the retail facilities 12 or to other purchaseobtaining points such as a customer's place of residence or business.

Each retail facility 12 may contain at least one purchase orderingterminal for enabling customers to order products available in theretail system 10. Also, the purchase ordering terminals may be installedin various points of ordering arranged conveniently for customers, forexample, at community centers, office buildings, industrial facilities,post offices, parking lots, etc.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the purchaseordering terminal may be a multimedia terminal responsive to customers'voice commands for producing images that enable customers to orderproducts. As discussed in more detail later, a customer may interfacewith the multimedia purchase ordering terminal by producing voicesignals to execute commands, enter data, respond to prompts, etc.Alternatively, the customer may interface with the terminal by touchingappropriate areas of the touch-screen display device with the finger.

Also, the retail system 10 enables users to place an order using theirpersonal computers, such as desktop and laptop computers, or otherpersonal digital devices, such as personal digital assistants or cellphones. The computers or other digital devices may be equipped with avoice recognition system to enable product ordering using voicecommands. Moreover, to facilitate the ordering process, the customer maybe provided with a data storage device, such as a CD-ROM or DVD device,which contains information on items available in the retail system 10.At the beginning of a purchase ordering session, the telecommunicationssystem 20 may connect the customer's data storage device to the centraldata base and control system 16 to update the information stored by thedata storage device.

Although a multimedia terminal of the present invention is presentedwith an example of a product ordering terminal at the retail facility 12or another ordering point of the retail system 10, one skilled in theart would recognize that the present invention may be implemented usinga customer's personal computer or other digital device. As shown in FIG.2, a multimedia purchase ordering terminal 100 of the present inventionmay include a processor 102, multimedia output devices 104, multimediainput devices 106, network interface and data communications devices108, a voice recognition unit 110, a voice recording unit 112, and amemory 114 coupled to the processor for storing various data andsequences of instructions executed by the processor 102 to provideoperations of the multimedia terminal 100.

The multimedia output devices 104 may include, without limitation,monitors 116 for presenting text and images, and voice output devices118 such as speakers, earphones and headphones. In accordance with anembodiment of the present invention, the monitor may display a graphicaluser interface (GUI) for enabling a user to order products in the retailsystem 10. An example of such a GUI is presented in my copending U.S.patent application No. 10/354,025 filed on Jan. 30, 2003 entitled“GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR PRODUCT ORDERING IN RETAIL SYSTEM” andincorporated herewith by reference. The multimedia input devices 106 mayinclude, without limitation, a voice input device such as a microphone,a touch screen device, a keyboard, and a pointing devices such as anelectronic mouse, trackball, light pen, thumb wheel, digitizing tablet,touch sensitive pad.

The memory 40 may store a number of items including programs forperforming product ordering procedures and a runtime environment. Theruntime environment typically is an operating system which managescomputer resources required for embodiments of the present invention tooperate. The runtime environment may also be a microkernel, a messagepassing system, a dynamic loadable linkable module, a browserapplication for the World Wide Web, a runtime interpreter environment,or any other system which manages computer resources.

As discussed in more detail later, the voice recognition unit 110 may beimplemented using voice recognition software that provides entering andrecognizing a large number of voice commands in real time. For example,more than 500 voice commands may be used in the product orderingprocedure of the present invention. The voice recording unit 112 mayprovide recording voice signals into a voice database of the retailsystem 100, in order to test and adjust the voice recognition unit 110.Also, the voice recording unit 12 may support collecting personal voicemodels representing customers of the retail system 10 to customize voicerecognition of individual customers.

The multimedia input devices 106 enable a customer to interact with themultimedia purchase ordering terminal 100 using voice commands andsignals received by a microphone, or alternatively, by touchingappropriate areas of the touch-screen display device with the finger.For example, the monitor 116 may display buttons graphically presentingusers' commands available in a particular phase of the product orderingprocedure. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the commandsdisplayed on the monitor 116 in a particular phase of the productordering procedure may be similar to voice commands available for thecustomer in that phase.

Alternatively, the voice commands may complement the commands displayedon the monitor 116 to enable the customer to operate in a freewheelingmode, which is not limited by a pre-set product ordering procedure. Thefreewheeling mode of operation allows the customer to modify a screendisplayed by the monitor 116 in any desired manner. The voice commandmay cause the monitor 116 to switch between screens representingnon-sequential phases of a product ordering session. For example, inresponse to a voice command identifying a desired product or a desiredcategory, the customer is enabled to switch from any phase of theproduct ordering session to a screen presenting a desired product or adesired category of products.

The voice command may be associated with the image displayed by themonitor 116 to request the monitor 116 to display a screen linked tothat image. For example, when a particular product is displayed, thevoice command may request the monitor 116 to display information aboutthe product, or to display a similar product with differentcharacteristics, such as a product, which is less expensive that thedisplayed product, or a product containing less fat that the displayedproduct. Hence, voice commands complement displayed images to facilitateproduct ordering.

Via the telecommunication system 20, information on purchase orders madeby customers using the multimedia purchase ordering terminals, or theirpersonal computers or other digital devices is transferred to thecentral data base and control system 16 for arranging purchase deliveryfrom the respective storage facility 14 to the retail facility 12selected by the customer, or other purchase obtaining point.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, voice commandsavailable for customers during the product ordering procedure includegeneral voice commands and voice keywords. The general voice commandsdefine requested operations to be performed by the multimedia productordering terminal 100. As discussed in more detail later, a unique setof general voice commands may be defined for each screen displayed bythe monitor 116 to present a particular phase of the product orderingprocedure.

For example, the general voice commands include such commands as “Help”,“Return”, “Basket”, “Order”, etc. In response to the customer's voicecommand “Help”, the monitor 116 displays a message assisting thecustomer in the respective phase of the product ordering procedure. Inresponse to the voice command “Return”, the monitor 116 returns todisplaying the screen previously displayed. The voice command “Basket”causes the monitor 116 to display an electronic “basket” or “shoppingcard” containing products selected by the customer. The voice command“Order” results in displaying a screen enabling the customer to finalizeher order.

The general voice commands are recognized by the voice recognition unit110 using a set of recognizable words established for each general voicecommand. For example, the voice command “Help” may be recognized by thevoice recognition unit 110 when a customer says the word “help”,“assist”, “prompt” or “question.” The voice command “Basket” may berecognized when the customer says the word “basket”, “card” or “shoppingcard”. The voice command “Return” may be issued when the voicerecognition unit 110 recognizes the words “return” or “back.”

The voice keywords include product keywords that define products orcategory of products available in the retail system 10 and point-of-sale(POS) keywords that define points of sales available in the retailsystem 10. Each product or a category of products is defined by a set ofproduct keywords identifying and describing the respective product orcategory. For example, a particular product may be described by theproduct keywords identifying a type of the product, manufacturer, price,weight, a type of package, etc.

Each POS is defined by a set of POS keywords identifying and describingthe respective POS. For example, a POS may be described by POS keywordsidentifying location of the POS, such as the name of a region, a streetaddress, a metro station, etc. While the general voice commands may beset permanently during an initial set up of the multimedia terminal 100,the voice keywords may be updated and modified in accordance withchanges in product nomenclature and POS availability. The general voicecommands, as well as the voice keywords may be stored in a voicedatabase accessible by the voice recognition unit 110.

During a product ordering session with a customer, the voice recognitionunit 110 interacts with the monitor 116 by generating a control signalthat controls the monitor 116 in accordance with a voice commandreceived from the customer. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the voicerecognition unit 110 is activated, when the customer initiates a productordering session (block 202). For example, the customer may initiate theproduct ordering session by activating the multimedia terminal 100 usinga customer's shopping card or other ID card.

The voice recognition unit 110 monitors whether the current productordering session is not finished (block 204). If the session is notfinished, the voice recognition unit 110 determines whether a word wassaid by the customer (block 206). A microphone may be used for detectingwords said by customers.

If a word is detected, the voice recognition unit 110 determines whetheror not a set of voice commands is established for a current phase of theproduct ordering session (block 208). A unique set of voice commands isestablished for each phase of the product ordering procedure. Forexample, during a POS selection phase, when the monitor 116 displays aPOS selection screen enabling the customer to select a POS, to which theordered purchase should be delivered, a set of voice commands mayinclude POS keywords, and general voice commands relating to the POSselection such as “Zoom-In” and “Zoom-Out” to modify the scale of a mapshowing available points of sales. During a delivery time selectionphase, when the monitor 116 displays a delivery time selection screenenabling the customer to select a time for delivery the ordered purchaseto the selected POS, a set of voice commands may include such voicecommands as “Today”, “Tomorrow”, “Morning”, “Afternoon”, etc. thatidentify a time of delivery requested by the customer.

By restricting the number of recognizable voice commands in a particularphase of the product ordering session to a limited set of voicecommands, the voice recognition unit 110 substantially improves voicerecognition. In addition, a limited set of voice commands available in acurrent phase of a product ordering session may be displayed by themonitor 116 during the respective phase to facilitate product orderingoperations. For example, during a POS selection phase, the monitor 116displays the POS selection screen that may contain a list of availablepoints of sale. Each POS in the list may be identified in accordancewith available POS keywords. Further, the POS selection screen maydisplay a map showing available points of sales and buttons “Zoom-In”and “Zoom-Out” for modifying the scale of this map. To operate themultimedia terminal 100 in the POS selection phase, the customer mayeither say a voice command of a set of available voice commands, ortouch the appropriate button or point on the screen. Similarly, thedelivery time selection screen displayed in the delivery time selectionphase of the product ordering session may contain buttons “Today”,“Tomorrow”, “Morning”, “Afternoon”, etc. to indicate available voicecommands and enable the customer to operate the multimedia terminaleither by voice commands or by touching appropriate buttons displayed onthe screen.

If a set of voice commands for the current phase of the product orderingsession is established, the voice recognition unit 110 performs a wordrecognition procedure to identify the word said by the customer as avoice command of the set of voice commands available in the currentphase (block 210). The voice recognition unit 110 does not respond to aword, which is not included in a set of voice commands for the currentphase. For example, in the POS selection phase, the voice recognitionunit 110 may not respond to a product keyword.

If the word is recognized (block 212), the voice recognition unit 110determines whether the voice recording unit 112 is on (block 214). Bydefault, the voice recording unit 112 is off. It may be activated forrecording voice signals into the voice database to accumulate voiceinformation for testing and adjusting the voice recognition unit. If thevoice recording unit 112 is on, the voice recognition unit 110 transfersthe recognized word to the voice recording unit 112 for recording intothe voice database (block 216).

After the customer's word is recognized, the voice recognition unit 110produces a control signal to control the multimedia terminal 100 inaccordance with the recognized voice command (block 218). Then, thevoice recognition unit 110 repeats operations 204-218 to recognize thenext word said by the customer. The voice recognition procedurecontinues until a product ordering session with a particular customer isterminated (block 220).

As discussed above, the product ordering session enables the customer toselect a point of sale for delivery the ordered purchase and a deliverytime. Thereafter, the multimedia terminal 100 enables the customer toselect required products and place an order for the selected products.In particular, the product ordering session may include a categoryselection phase, during which the monitor 116 displays a screencontaining various categories of available products to enable thecustomer to select a required category. Then, a product selection phasemay be carried out, during which the monitor 116 displays a screenshowing a group of products in the selected category to enable thecustomer to select a required product. Also, the product orderingsession may include a product review phase, during which the monitor 116displays a product review screen showing detailed information on theselected product. In a basket content review phase, the monitor 116displays a basket content screen enabling the customer to review contentof her basket or shopping card, and add and/or remove some items. In anorder review phase, the monitor 116 displays a screen that enable thecustomer to review and edit her purchase order.

During every phase of the product ordering session, the monitor 116 maydisplay buttons labeled in accordance with voice commands available inthe respective phase. For example, FIG. 4 illustrates a productselection phase, when the monitor 116 displays a product selectionscreen enabling the customer to select a product among multiple productsof a particular type or category. The screen may show a virtualsupermarket stand containing multiple horizontal shelves stacked withproducts of the selected group, for example, with different pastaproducts. The product selection screen contains various operationalbuttons labeled in accordance with voice commands available in theproduct selection phase of the product ordering session.

For example, the operational buttons include button corresponding tovoice command “BASKET”. In response to this voice command, the monitor116 displays a basket content screen that shows items currentlycontained in the customer's basket or shopping card. Alternatively, thecustomer may touch or select the button “BASKET” to move to the basketcontent screen.

The operational buttons on the product selection screen may includebutton corresponding to voice command “ORDER”. In response to thiscommand, an order may be placed based on items currently contained inthe basket. Alternatively, the customer may place an order by touchingor selecting the button “ORDER”. Further, among the operational buttonson the product selection screen may be button corresponding to voicecommand “HELP” to enable customers to get information on various aspectsof the purchase ordering process, and button corresponding to voicecommand “BACK” to enable customers to return to a previous screen.

Voice command “SEARCH” may be available during the product selectionphase to switch to a product search screen enabling a customer to searchfor a required product. Corresponding button may be displayed on theproduct selection screen. Alternatively, search for a product may beperformed when the voice recognition unit 110 recognizes a productkeyword relating to the requested product.

Each of the displayed shelves on the product selection screen containsselectable elements in a form of product images, and selectable elementsin a form of price tags or price labels adjacent respective product'simages. Each displayed price tag or price label attached to thedisplayed product identifies the respective product and shows its price.When a customer touches or selects the price tag attached to a producton the virtual shelf, the product is placed into the customer's virtualbasket or shopping card. If the customer touches or selects the image ofthe product, a product review screen is displayed to show an enlargedimage of the product and information relevant to that product.

Hence, the multimedia product ordering terminal 100 of the presentinvention provides interaction between voice commands and imagesdisplayed on the monitor to facilitate a product ordering process. Ascreen displayed by the monitor in the respective phase of the productordering session is associated with a particular set of voice commandsavailable during the respective phase. Moreover, images on the screenmay point out the available voice commands to customers to guide themthrough a product ordering session. Voice commands complement displayedimages to facilitate product ordering. In particular, the monitor maydisplay a screen linked to a displayed image in response to the voicecommand associated with that displayed image. Further, a voice commandmay request the monitor to display a screen which is not available byselecting a button displayed by the monitor.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the present inventionadmits of a number of modifications, within the spirit and scope of theinventive concepts, and that it may be applied in numerous applications,only some of which have been described herein. It is intended by thefollowing claims to claim all such modifications and variations whichfall within the true scope of the invention.

1. A system for enabling a customer to order a required product,comprising: a voice recognition mechanism for recognizing a voice input,and a display mechanism responsive to the recognized voice input fordisplaying images assisting the customer in ordering the product duringa product ordering session.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the voicerecognition mechanism and the display mechanism are elements of aproduct ordering terminal in a retail facility.
 3. The system of claim1, wherein the display mechanism is configured for displaying a controlelement for enabling the customer to modify a displayed image in arequired manner when the customer selects the control element.
 4. Thesystem of claim 3, wherein the voice recognition mechanism is configuredto control the display mechanism so as to modify the displayed image inthe required manner when a voice command corresponding to a function ofthe control element is recognized.
 5. The system of claim 3, wherein thevoice input includes a voice command for requesting the displaymechanism to switch to a desired screen which is not available byselecting the displayed control element.
 6. The system of claim 1,wherein the voice input includes a voice command associated with animage displayed by the display mechanism to request the displaymechanism to display a screen linked to the displayed image.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the display mechanism is configured fordisplaying at least a first screen representing a first phase of theproduct ordering session and a second screen representing a second phaseof the product ordering session.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein thedisplay mechanism is responsive to the recognized customer's voice inputto replace the first screen with the second screen.
 9. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the first screen and the second screen representnon-consecutive phases of the product ordering session.
 10. The systemof claim 7, wherein the voice recognition mechanism is configured torecognize a first set of voice commands when the first screen isdisplayed, and a second set of voice commands when the second screen isdisplayed.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first set of voicecommands differs from the second set of voice commands.
 12. The systemof claim 1, wherein the display mechanism is configured to displaygraphical elements indicating voice commands available in a particularphase of the product ordering session.
 13. The system of claim 1,wherein voice commands recognizable by the voice recognition mechanismduring the product ordering session include point-of-sale keywords fordefining points of sales for delivery an ordered product.
 14. The systemof claim 1, wherein voice commands recognizable by the voice recognitionmechanism during the product ordering session include product keywordsfor defining products available for ordering.
 15. The system of claim 1,further comprising a voice recording mechanism for recording the voiceinput to accumulate voice information for adjusting the voicerecognition mechanism.
 16. A method of ordering a product comprising thesteps of: recognizing a voice input from a customer, and in response tothe recognized voice input, displaying images assisting the customer inordering the product during a product ordering session.
 17. The methodof claim 16, further comprising the step of displaying a control elementfor enabling the customer to modify a displayed image in a requiredmanner when the customer selects the control element.
 18. The method ofclaim 17, further comprising the step of modifying the displayed imagein the required manner when a voice command corresponding to a functionof the control element is recognized.
 19. The method of claim 17,wherein the voice input includes a voice command for displaying adesired screen which is not available by selecting the displayed controlelement.
 20. The method of claim 16, wherein the voice input includes avoice command associated with a displayed image to display a screenlinked to the displayed image.
 21. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising the step of displaying at least a first screen representing afirst phase of the product ordering session and a second screenrepresenting a second phase of the product ordering session.
 22. Themethod of claim 21, further comprising the step of replacing the firstscreen with the second screen in response to the recognized voice input.23. The method of claim 22, wherein the first screen and the secondscreen represent non-consecutive phases of the product ordering session.24. The method of claim 21, further comprising the step of recognizing afirst set of voice commands when the first screen is displayed, and asecond set of voice commands when the second screen is displayed. 25.The method of claim 24, wherein the first set of voice commands differsfrom the second set of voice commands.
 26. The method of claim 16,further comprising the step of displaying graphical elements indicatingvoice commands available in a particular phase of the product orderingsession.
 27. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step ofenabling the customer to select a point of sale for delivery an orderedproduct using a voice command including at least one point-of-salekeyword for defining the point of sale.
 28. The method of claim 16,further comprising the step of enabling the customer to select arequired product using a voice command including at least one productkeyword for defining products available for ordering.